Acoustic Control Corporation 150

I had $150 and I needed about 150 watts of bass amp. Fortunately that day, the owner of the local pawn shop/ music store was clearing out old heads that day and I spotted this old Acoustic 150b. I picked it up, looked it over. Went over and plugged it in. It worked, it made a noise, so I said, "HEy Jerry, how much for this old Acoustic?" Pause. "Hunderd fifty." I was in and out in five minutes and when I left I was carrying the most reliable, albeit quirky, bass amp that I have ever run across.
My previous amp had bit the dust in a freak rainstorm after a gig and I had another gig the next evening. I play rock, jazz, country, blues, prog, whatever and this amp goes with me nearly everywhere. It has been pressed into service with a variety of basses, but I have to say my Peavey foundation fretless with passive humbuckers just drives this amp crazy! I didn't really get the Jaco connection immediately when I bought it, but found out he used them after the fact, and since I am a fan, it pleased me.
I wish it had a little more power and an effects loop. Mine is not nearly as quiet as everyone else is describing, but mine only has a two prong plug, so I think if I grounded the chassis, it might help.
The booster amp output is nice for direct recording.

This amp pretty much is a one trick pony for me. The limited control over tone is purposeful on my part, because I've always been a fan of simplicity. MY rig consists of the 150b, an Old Peavey 212 cab with Black Widows and a Mexican Fender Jazz. I took this on a big band gig a few weeks back and the drummer asked me, "whats with all the vintage gear?" And I sort of laughed because I never set out to have all this old stuff, it's just what I've grown used to and if it ain't broke...
The tone this thing puts out is pretty amazing, I must say. I use it a lot for recording at home, both with micing the cab or just using the booster output into my console, it translates well and the bass is clear with as much top end as I want to give it, which is usually not a lot. I usually run the bass control at full and the treble at about 10'oclock. I turn on the bright switch only during a really lod part of the song and I want a line to stick out. The only effect I use regularly is an Ibanez guitar Envelope filter and this amp loves to sound funky. Slapping and popping don't translate as well, but I am trying to cut that out, so it doesn't break my heart.
I also use this amp for acoustic settings using a Peavey 112 PA cab with a horn. It works well with my Old Kay upright and my Yamaha classical sonds prety nice through it, too.
This is where I wish that it had an effects loop to put in a little eq.

This is my backup amp. It broke on me once and even I was able to fix it. I don't think I could rate this any higher. I have had more trouble with bass amps than I care to recall, so any problems I have with the tone go out the window. If you had two employees and one of them was really nice and pretty, but called in sick twice a week, and another who was a little slow and homely, but showed up on time every single day, which one would you keep around?

None. Just sites like this.

I have owned the Acoustic 150 head for approx. 20 years. I got it from the other guitar player in the band when he retired. I was young then and only wanted up to date amps. Low and behold, I was searching for a special amp that would give me an undeniably cool clean sound and still have the balls to crank when needed. This amp was purchased in California and brought back east in 1973. I would expect the head to be manufactured around 1971 or so...
Long story short - I love it! It has what I need. It loves the Vox Tone Lab processor and it is very reliable. After 20 years of sitting in a Barn (covered up), I plug it in and it works wonderfully. It's quiet and , well, I love it. I paid $100 bucks for it. What a deal!

I play a Fender Strat (circa - 1972) and a Fender Tele (custom pro shop - American - 8 of 10). The sound is awsome!
My only complaint would be that I cant switch channels on it. I thought that was what the footswitch output on the back was for. I guess not. If any techs no how to convert it to switch channels please email me at the address below. Thank you.

Its still working after 30 plus years. Any Questions?

I never had to repair it.

Hello, My 150 was made in 1970 (blue line contrary to black line for amp made between 1972-1979). It was completely restaured for an incredible sound. I want to precise something : The Acoustic 150 was used to play bass OR guitar. An Acoustic 150B (for bass) exist to (to remplace the Acoustic 140). The only different is the absence of effect on 150B (because only few bassmen used effect). All the electronic characteristics are the same between a 150 and a 150B. You can find all you want on that site, in the forum : http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic/WebHome

I have got a incredible 5 string fretless acoustic bass hand-made by the luthier Simoneau (MF luthery in Montreal) This bass have the same sound as a double-bass, so very grave sonority which are perfectly restaured by this amp.

I do not use this amp to make very loud sound. Only in a small acoustic band to play "manouche" jazz. And it's very cool like that.

only two interessant site the original one is always in construction.

http://acoustic.homeunix.net/twiki/bin/view/Acoustic/WebHome for fabrication date = very clean to get some global informations... very cool thank's

http://acoustic.control.free.fr/ to description of all models.

I know now why Pastorius play with this kind of amps. Thank's

Acoustic 150 head, made in the early 1970's. Two channels, each with two inputs. First channel is clean, with volume, bass, and treble controls. Second channel is similar, but with reverb and tremolo, and knobs for reverb, speed, and intensity. I use the first channel exclusively. No effects loop. I use this amp primarily as a backup for my Sunn Model T reissue head. This is a solid state head, though. There is an input in the back for a footswitch, but I haven't used it.

I plug this head into a Marshall 1960A cab with Vintage 30 speakers. I've been using my Essex Les Paul copy, which is actually my main guitar as of late, which sounds great. Anyway, the amp is pretty good for a solid state amp. I don't know if I'd give it the praise that people here give it. It's a nice solid state amp, but I can definitely tell that its solid state. It doesn't quite have the same roundness or response that say, my Model T does. It does have a pretty good amount of headroom for a solid state head. However, even with the bright switch engaged, it sounds kinda dull. Without a midrange boost, it's tough to get it to sound how I like it exactly, though it can get pretty close. It doesn't respond quite like a tube amp. Tube amps have very musical breakup, whereas this seems to have 'solid state distortion' type breakup. It's usable, but not the most musical to my ears.

I used this amp at a show the other day and it was loud enough, but didn't have the cut that my Sunn does. It sat kinda lifeless in the mix. I was a little disappointed with it, in all honesty.

One weird thing about this amp is that the first channel is way louder than the channel with the effects on it. The first channel is pretty loud. It's plenty loud enough at like 3/10. On the second channel, it's either really quiet, or moderately loud. If you turn the volume up on the channel, it gets a little louder, but overall just distorts more. Kinda disappointing.

With regards to the effects, the reverb sounds pretty standard. Nothing too great. Can get pretty roomy sounding if cranked. The tremolo is merely OK. I actually use a Danelectro cheapo tremolo pedal for those sounds, and I think its better. For some reason, the amp sounds as though it's struggling to make sounds when I engage the tremolo. Given the amps age and condition though, I'm just happy it works at all.

One great thing about this head is that it LOVES effects. Running effects through this head makes the head sound beautiful! Particularly nice sounding are delays and reverbs. I've run a Boss DD2 delay and an Electro Harmonix Holy Grail reverb through it and both sound great! I also ran a vintage Rat and an NYC Big Muff through it, and honestly, those distortions have never sounded better. Takes effects way better than my Sunn does. Though, I have found this to be characteristic of solid state heads. I think because their clean signals are extremely clean that effects are able to shine through better. Not sure how it works.

Another nice feature is that its DAMN quiet. No hum whatsoever at any volume. It even makes the inherent hum from effects quieter! I wish more modern amp manufacturers would take some cues from this design, at least in that sense.

This thing looks like it has been to Hell and back hundreds of times. Before I picked it up, someone had installed part of an orange extension cord as the amp's main cord, and left the ground wire exposed, hanging from the back of the amp. The shop I go to replaced the cord and removed the ground wire for free. Even despite the crappy look of the head, it still has worked great for me thus far. And I mean, come on, it was beaten to crap and has survived roughly 35 years. I think these amps were built to last.

I emailed the guy who runs Acoustic now to get a schematic. He was helpful and told me which schematic I needed to get. He referred me to his Ebay store. Though, I ordered the schematics weeks ago and have yet to receive them. And, they were $30. :( Kinda shitty in my opinion, but that's how people seem to work these days.

It's a good amp overall. If you're on a budget, or just hate the upkeep of tube amps, I would give this or another Acoustic amp a try. They're pretty decent overall. Better than pretty much every solid state head I've tried, aside from old Sunn heads which are, in my opinion, unbeatable!

My head made somewhere in the 70's. Two channels (no switching), with the first being a bit louder and cleaner and the second messed up with reverb and tremolo. Bright switch on each channel. Two speaker outputs (no idea what impedance), booster out. I figured out that booster out is a line out only from this reviews' page. Well, actually someone might want to use this head as a booster - plug in it and use this out to feed another amp. A bit too large for a booster, but who cares! Americans love large things. I use mainly the first channel, but sometimes I replug into the second one for "sensitive" moments with reverb or tremolo. Versatile enough for me.
It is very powerful and I never go past 12 o'clock on the volume. Live I usually asked to keep the volume around 9 o'clock - everything is miked up today, buy load boxes if you want natural distortion.
One feature that is sort of enigma is the "ground" switch next to the mains switch. You can turn it off and hear the 50 (or is it 60?) cycle hum. Very cool. Than you turn it back on and enjoy how quiet the thing becomes.

I really don't care it's not tube but solid state since there's no difference in the sound character. I play Les Pauls and SGs - the humbucker stuff. I'm not sure but it seems to me that Acoustic is voiced for bass rather than guitar. 150 should be a guitar head, but it's clean channel sounds almost identical to some of their bass heads I've tried. The bass control is something I roll off completely. If you put it on 50% it pushes the speakers too hard with my LP (yes, I know there's more bass on LP than most of other guitars, but still). If you put bass control on the maximum you have something insanely fat and barely useable. I'm not sure anyone ever needs that much bass. Treble is also too much to my taste, I also roll it off, although not completely. My favourite Tone Bender fuzz have lots of hi-end in its' tonal range and if I open treble too much it sounds harsh. I assume it might be a speaker problem too.
Overall sound is very smooth and I like it so much I've sold my Princetone Fender because it sounded too stingy compared to Acoustic. 150 puts out a big, warm and fat sound with lots of character.
I usually run it clean although it's capable of producing some vintage-style distortion at the maximum volume. I don't like it so much not only because it needs to be VERY LOUD but it is also not a "modern" distortion, you cannot play palm-muting stuff with it. Anyway it's a matter of taste.
Is it noisy? Not at all, but there's still a barely noticeable hum when it's on.
The reverb reminds me of Samick combo I've had about 15 years ago. Considering the size of the head with a chassis wider than most of the tube amps I came across they could put a reverb tank twice the size of my penis! But unfortunately they didn't.

By far, no problems, no repairs. The decorative panel (one with "Acoustic" logo) on the front have a tendency to fall off, but I glue it back. Btw, the design is very nice - everything is clear, you can see the settings even on a dark stage. And - the important factor - it looks real cheesy vintage!

no idea

Been playing for some 20 years. Went through all sorts of amps, mostly Fenders. For some reason lately I was more toward something smooth and fat, and that's the reason I've bought this head. It's relatively cheap, it's reliable, and it has the sound I like. What else do I need?

My 150 head was made in 70's, two non-switchable channels, with two inputs each one. Second channel features reverb and tremolo. Each channel have volume, treble and bass pots plus a bright switch. The second channel have speed and intencity pots for tremolo and a reverb pot. I guess you can see the details about the amp's features in the reviews below.
The head is rather big for a solid-state, about the size of Marchall head - something like 60 cm wide, although it's much lighter, feels like 10kg or something in that range. I can carry it in one hand. It has a handle on a side and rubber feet on the opposite side so you can put it in vertical position if needed. Nice.
It's loud enough for both gigs and rehearsals, although I'm used to deafeningly loud stuff like 100W guitar and 300W bass heads. I'd say it's not insanely loud as some of the reviewers state here. I'm able to crank it to the max and stand in front of it (which is hard to do with many other heads I have). Enough power for bass through single 15" or guitar with single 12" to cut through. It has two speaker outputs (accepts 4, 8 and 16 load), so you can power up a full stack without a problem.
I find it versatile enough and the modest EQ is a bonus - I don't like too many knobs on my amps. btw, I usually keep both bass and treble at about 9-10 o'clock - not boosting but cutting frequencies. The fact it works with both guitars and basses is a very cool feature since I play guitar in one band and bass in another.
The only thing I miss is a marshall-style voltage switch, but americans - shame on them! - never put such a thing on their amplifiers. -1 for the voltage selector.

It sound GOOOOD. I love it. I would never expect such a quality sound from a solid-state amp, but I believe it was made back in a year when they still haven't figured out how to build crappy-sounding cheap solid state stuff. It features an output transformer - something that is not really needed in a solid-state design, but it plays a huge role in shaping any valve amp's sound, and it adds lots of warmth and chunk. I'm sorry to say I went through numerous solid-state amps and they all sucked. You know the story - it stays nice and clean until you reach about 50% of the overall volume, and then it starts to distort. And the solid-state distortion is something you don't want to hear - it's ugly, nasty, non-musical and completely useless. The Acoustic is something really unusual - first, it has more headroom than typical solid-state amp, but when you reach about 75% of the volume knob run, it gets fatter, richer and at the end you've got nice and completely valve-like crunch. Simply amazing! I almost always play this amp in the "crunch" zone - both with bass and guitar. There's really no difference between this head and other valve heads I've got in how it works. It cleans up when you back off the volume, or play light.
Another thing I like about this amp is it's frequency range. It sounds very rich, and when it distorts its bottom remains as fat and punchy as when it's clean. When I was about to buy this head from my friend I plugged a Jazzbass and played a bit this and that, but when I plugged into channel 1 and maxed out the volume it suddenly sounded like Motorhead!!! I hope you've heard that sound - a chunky, rich, fat, distorted bass. I was really amazed partly because at certain stage I owned an old valve Marshall bass head. It sounded flabby and never reached that sound at all. At maximum volume it was loosing bass and the crunch mainly happened at midrange frequencies. Sort of a "plexi" character, but not good for bass. Shortly, the Acoustic 150 is an amazing bass head if you like it PHAT. Sometimes I recognize it's character in older Led Zep live recordings when the bass growls. JPJ was using a more powerfull Acoustic 360 or something like that, but still managed to put a volume on the maximum sometimes.
Although I'm talking about crunch all the time, the clean sound is also inspiring and very articulated. It's not dead or sterile as majority of solid-state amps but warm and punchy. Strat rings like a bell.
A couple of words about the effects:
1. Reverb sucks. Artificial, short-tank 2-spring sound. Use it only if you like industrial junky sound of rusty springs. It also affects volume dramatically. -1 for the reverb.
2. Tremolo is superb! Very cool vintage effect. I assume tremolo is a very simple volume modulation, but for some reason all tremolo stompboxes sound bad. I often play with it instead of practicing with a metronome. It gives everything a warm pulse. The speed range is cleverly set, not like on my crappy Dunlop Univibe reissue (too fast).

Went through numerous gigs without a problem. In a past I've had a couple of issues with Fenders that refused to work after some road abuse when I set them on stage. I avoid Fenders since then. The Acoustic seems to be bulletproof. It was played for at least 30 years and never repaired. Input jacks and some pots are scratchy but after you set everything up it works flawlessly.

Lifetime warranty? It never needed a repair.

With this head I don't miss glowing valves and extra 10kg. It serves me properly in every application. I think it's the only solid-state head that sounds as good as valve. If I will ever get to touring US with my band we'd take only the guitars, and we'll buy a couple of old Acoustics and an old van at the place.
I love the fact you can find Acoustics at the dumpsters in USA, but in Europe they're a bit more pricey. But still if it would cost a $1000 I would still say it's a good amplifier. Notice that noone on this page wrote it sounds bad - a rare case indeed.

I just picked up a 150 for a rehearsal rig and I am amazed how warm sounding this thing is. i am using it for a bass rig with a 1 15 cab eninence loaded a a 210 eminence loaded cab. My 2 primary basses a a 4 string stingray and a ibenez btb, both active electronics and both sound pretty good with this rig. My live rig is a gallien krueger 1001 210 combo with a gk 410 cab. as you probably already know it has 2 channels 1 plain jane bright swith, volume, teble, bass and the other bright, volume, treble, bass, reverb, speed intensity, I usually use the plain jane channel but i can get some very interesting sounds out of channel 2

Like I said I can get a very warm vintage sound out of this amp, I play a wide variaty of music, classic, prog rock, funk, and some jazz, ( I can get some really good funk sound on channel 2, doesnt sound as good as the GK rig i have but what the hell, paid about 10 times as much for the GK. My son is playing bass as well and he is begging me to let him use this rig over the ampeg porta flex he is using now, what the hell i think i will let him give it a run I am rating this a 7 just becuse i am comparing it to alot of other amps i have played in the past wich do cost a hell of alot more $ but I will say it blows the ampeg b4R head I had out of the water in sound.

I cant really say I havnt owned it long enough but its about 30 years old and its still kicking

never dealt with them and of coarse they are out of business

Ive been playing 30 years and have played on just about everything through the years from the original SVTs to mesa boogie, Fender, Lab series, carvin Sunn, earth, (now Im showing my age) even the cough cough hack hack peavys and for the price I paid for this little head i think its one of the best purchases ive made, no complaints here at what I got for 55 bucks and again Im rating this comparing it to everythig else ive played on, and Ive played on some really nice rigs. of coarse it doesnt have any of the features of todays amps , no effects loop, low Z line out but but a nice little rig for what is is, and it does sound better than alot of amps out there costing a hell of alot more money. If anyone knows where to find a manual for this please let me know, also if anyone knows how to track the year it was made by the serial # that would be cool too

Just a couple of notes on the 150--
The "Booster Output" jack is a a line-level tap off the speaker output; that is, you can use this jack to connect the 150 to a power amp and really do your (or other people's) ears some serious damage.

Here's a tip: If your 150 has intermittent sound or crackling, like mine did, a possible fix is to clean (or have cleaned) the contacts on the preamp circuit boards where the wiring harnesses plug in. The connections on the board are solder traces and will "crud up" over the years. Just cleaning these connections made a world of difference with my 150 (BTW it's one of the early models with the green and blue stripes on the front panel)

Early-1970's Acoustic. Standard features as described by other reviewers. The tremolo effect is unbelievably rich and clear; I will never use a stompbox again as this device has so spoiled me. I, too, am interested to know what the "booster" jack is designed for?

Let me tell you, what other reviewers have said about the "honesty" of this amp is th gospel Truth. Immediately after I brought it home, I began noticing intonation issues with my instruments - problems that never were apparent through any other rig! I have refined the intonation on my instruments, and I am sounding better than ever. I utilize my 150 as a bass amp, running a six-string active electronic bass. I understand that the bass version of this amp (the 150B) is identical, but excludes the reverb and tremolo effects. If so, I believe it, because it's hard to imagine a better bass amp. This thing pushes the low B string with mojo to spare. The tremolo effect sounds FANTASTIC on bass! I use a lot of harmonics in my playing, and with this effect they ring out SO beautifully! The jury is still out, however, on the amp's ability to deal with the 9-volt active electronic bass signal at maximum volume... I get a slight hissing sound sometimes; I may be asking this head to do something it was never designed to do (accept LOW bass frequencies pushed by 9 additional volts), or there may be a problem with the cab (I seem to remember a similar sound when using another head). Anyway, I leave the volume knobs on the bass at less than 50% and no problem! I run it through a Hartke cab with a 15-inch aluminum cone, and I have never sought to distort this thing. Tone is clear, rich, powerful.

I share the previously-voiced opinion that the thing is solidly made. A couple of pots have the knobs broken off - indicating some rough handling in its 30-year history - but they still work fine by twisting the spindle. I do gig with it, sans backup, and I have no fears.

N/A - out of business. I am encouraged to hear that repairmen find them easy to work on.

The main event which compelled me to write this review. My band was booked at a new venue, and the owner assured me that the "house PA" system would be available for us to use. Consequently, I did not bring my PA. Upon arrival, I found, to my dismay, that the house system was hard-wired for a DJ system and the (powered!) speakers were bolted to the ceiling... the guy did not know what he was talking about. It was impossible to use the house system without MAJOR, time-consuming inconvenience to the patrons. After a moment to mull it over, I remembered how great the 150 sounded through my PA speakers... I ran the WHOLE BAND, microphones, keyboards, sax and all, through my bass rig... not the best sound we ever achieved, I admit, but it saved the gig. Wow. No question I will grab every one of these that I see.

I bought my Acoustic 150 in 1971. AT that time I was playing the oldies stuff and the amp was blowing the smaller Fenders out of the water. It had two channels, one volume bass and treble, the other volume bass, treble, reverb and tremelo. I wish it had an equalizer, but since it didn't, I bought (back in 1975), a peddle equalizer and it worked great (and still does today, 2004). This amp has more power than I can use. Later, around 1985, I teamed up with a guy we started playing dingy beer dives for drinks and tips. He had a Fender, and though it did bring out a little more overtones than the Acoustic (but not much), I had the total presence and the bass. While he was about half on his volume, I was about one third.

At the time I was playing in bars, I had Ibanez solid body guitar and playing country classics. Sometimes, after 10pm we would start cranking up the volume. No distortion. One time the Sheriff came by and told us to turn it down, neighbors are calling in complaints. I used some reverb for softening sometimes, but the tremelo just didn't fit in the music we were playing. Mainly because it sounded a little to atrificial.

That amp was with me every step of my playing through the years, not any problems. But after two enlistments of married with children, age, work and a new hobby of cooking, I finaly gave the music a rest for the last two years. And after two years it was time to bring back my music. It is now 2004. Now after two years of sitting, I brought out the 80 or 90 pound speaker box with the amp on top, hooked everything up and all I got was intermintant sound, no sound. I was dissappointed, but then it never gave me a problem for some 31 years. Nothing lasts forever, including my marriages.

I would like to get this repaired. I was hoping that someone out there may know and or recommend a repair shop in the Santa Rosa, California area.

Yes I would buy it again. I just wish it wasn't so heavy. But then, the heavier the speaker, the better the quality.

Scott